Get a first look at this year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree
Photo courtesy of Tishman Speyer
The 2022 Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has officially been announced, marking the start of New York City’s holiday season. The 82-foot-tall Norway Spruce hails from Queensbury, an upstate New York town near Lake George. The Rockefeller Christmas Tree will arrive in Manhattan on Saturday, November 12, and then will be decorated with thousands of lights. The annual tree lighting ceremony will take place on Wednesday, November 30.
The 2021 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree came from Maryland, the first ever from the state. Photo: Diane Bondareff/AP Images for Tishman Speyer
Donated by the Lebowitz Family of Glen Falls, this year’s tree measures 50 feet wide, weighs 14 tons, and is roughly 85 to 90 years old. Rockefeller Center’s head gardener, Erik Pauze, has helped scout and transport the famous holiday tree every year for the past 30 years.
“What I look for is a tree you would want in your living room, but on a grander scale,” Pauze said in an interview last year for The Center Magazine. “It’s got that nice, perfect shape all around. And most of all, it’s gotta look good for those kids who turn the corner at 30 Rock; it needs to instantly put a huge smile on their faces. It needs to evoke that feeling of happiness.”
More than 50,000 multi-colored LED lights across nearly five miles of wire will adorn the tree. A 900-pound star that is covered in three million Swarovski crystals, designed in 2018 by architect Daniel Libeskind, tops the spruce.
After the lighting ceremony on November 30, the tree will be lit daily from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. The tree is lit for 24 hours on Christmas Day and from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
The tree lighting at Rockefeller Center has been a holiday tradition since 1933, with the ceremony broadcast live on television every year since 1951.
The ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center will open for the season on November 5. Admission + skate rental starts at $21 per person.
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